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Air Transportation

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RAND research on air transportation has examined a wide range of topics, including air traffic control, air safety and security, fuel systems, and accident investigations.

Report

U.S. Airport Infrastructure Funding and Financing

Jan 14, 2020

Passenger air travel is at an all-time high, and demand for it is expected to rise. Will current levels of spending under existing federal policies be sufficient to enable commercial airports to make the infrastructure investments needed to meet that demand?
Report

COVID-19 Was Spreading Globally for Weeks Before It Was Declared a Pandemic

Sep 22, 2020

Worldwide exports of COVID-19 cases began increasing at an accelerating rate on February 19, 2020. That was three weeks before the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. By the end of February, nearly 40 cases per week were spreading around the globe via air travel.

Explore Air Transportation

Testimony

U.S. Airport Funding and Finance

Aviation connects the country, and to facilitate that, billions of dollars are spent every year on infrastructure at U.S. airports. Where does this funding come from? And how do needs, resources, and pandemic impacts vary across different types of airports?

Jun 23, 2021
Blog

COVID-19 Testing in Schools, Family Caregivers, U.S. Entrepreneurship: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on COVID-19 testing in schools, giving a voice to family caregivers, preparing for daylight saving time, and more.

Mar 12, 2021
Blog

Health Care Price Transparency, COVID-19 Vaccinations, Gun Laws: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what private health plans pay compared to what Medicare pays, when COVID-19's global spread really began, laws that could reduce firearm deaths, and more.

Sep 25, 2020
Report

Which African Countries Are Most at Risk of Importing COVID-19?

U.S. forces in Africa are usually in unstable areas that have low levels of international air travel. Those regions are less likely to import COVID-19. The near-term driver of COVID-19 risk in Africa will more likely be the flow of travelers from Western Europe to Morocco, South Africa, and Algeria.

Sep 22, 2020
Blog

Air Travel Data to Predict COVID Risk, Heatwave Planning, Caregiver Time Off: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on using air travel data to predict COVID risk, planning for a heat wave during the pandemic, why caregivers need time off, and more.

Jun 12, 2020
News Release

New Tool Employs Air Travel Data to Predict Global Spread of COVID-19

As the pandemic enters a new phase, punctuated by emerging hot spots and continuing global spread, a new RAND tool allows policymakers to predict regional risks of importing cases of COVID-19.

Jun 5, 2020
Report

COVID-19 Cases in China Were Likely 37 Times Higher Than Reported in January 2020

Based on officially reported cases in China in January 2020, the odds of the novel coronavirus appearing by January 22, 2020, in Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, and Taiwan—as it did—would have been minuscule.

Jun 5, 2020
Report

A New RAND Tool Helps Analyze Commercial Air Travel Involving Infected Passengers

Researchers combine case data from Johns Hopkins University with detailed air travel data from the International Air Transport Association to visualize how COVID-19 infections and commercial air travel have interacted to export infection risk across the world.

Jun 5, 2020
Report

Decisionmakers Should Base Travel Restrictions on Infection Rates Per Capita and Air Traffic Levels

Countries with modest numbers of confirmed cases can still represent the greatest risks of virus exportation to the United States if those countries have relatively high active case rates per capita and high levels of connectivity to the United States.

Jun 5, 2020
Report

Air Passenger Transmission Risk to GCC Countries Originated from Outside the Region

Analyses contradict the idea that Iran was most responsible for the spread of COVID-19 to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Jun 5, 2020
Report

By January 31, 2020, at Least 1.5 Daily Infected Passengers Were Originating in China

By late January 2020, infections of COVID-19 were likely being exported from China, via commercial air travel, on a daily basis.

Jun 5, 2020
Report

Small Unmanned Aerial System Adversary Capabilities

It is difficult to detect, identify, classify, and—consequently—counter nefarious small unmanned aerial systems (sUASs), particularly in urban areas. As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security prepares for this potential threat, it will need to know the types of threat scenarios in which these systems could be used, which design elements are likely to be exploited by a nefarious actor, and which technologies and capabilities may be available in the near future.

Mar 12, 2020
Blog

Coronavirus Outbreak, Drones, the U.S. Power Grid: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the intensifying coronavirus outbreak, cyber threats from drones, the vulnerabilities of the U.S. power grid, and more.

Mar 6, 2020
Report

How to Analyze the Cyber Threat from Drones

Unmanned aerial systems—drones—have become more common, more readily available, and more sophisticated. And they have new capabilities, such as increased data collection and autonomous behavior. Their cybersecurity implications demand a coherent strategy.

Mar 5, 2020
Blog

U.S.-Turkish Relations, Airports, Opioids: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the future of the U.S.-Turkish partnership, helping America's commercial airports meet rising demand, the opioid crisis, and more.

Jan 17, 2020
News Release

Changes in Funding, Finance Policies Could Help U.S. Airports Prepare for Future Demand

Changes in federal policies could help ensure U.S. commercial airports are able to draw on sufficient and stable sources of revenue to maintain existing capacity, accommodate growth and support a safe, sustainable national airspace system in the coming decades.

Jan 14, 2020
Report

U.S. Airport Infrastructure Funding and Financing: Issues and Policy Options Pursuant to Section 122 of the 2018 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act: Executive Summary

Passenger air travel is at an all-time high, and airports are investing in the infrastructure needed to meet demand. This document summarizes the full report's review of the federal government's role in airport infrastructure funding and financing.

Jan 14, 2020
Report

Acquisition and Use of MANPADS Against Commercial Aviation: Risks, Proliferation, Mitigation, and Cost of an Attack

This report provides a summary of the risks, proliferation, costs of man-portable air defense system attacks against commercial aviation targets. It also presents mitigation options against such an attack.

Dec 30, 2019

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RAND Topic:
Air Transportation

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